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“Well, we are climbing down rungs and rungs of ladders and to be fair, you’re getting slower and slower at it.” Sarah said from her spot above them. She crossed her legs on the landing and peered down at the two men. “It’s too bad super-evil-genius-robotic-villains decide to live deep beneath the actual city instead of on top of it in a nice locked lair.”

“Yes, it makes it very hard for the crippled ex-Summoner to climb up and down rungs, especially when his arm starts bleeding again.” Dirk said darkly as he shoved his left arm around the nearest rung and tucked it tight, using his right to rub his shoulder and felt the slowly seeping wound.

“How goes the healing?” Sarah asked as Marvelous finally moved down enough to afford her the space needed to join them on that section of the ladder.

“Slowly. I think it was magically enhanced. I’m lucky it closed at all if so.” Dirk said as he slowly relaxed his arm and started climbing slowly down the rungs again. “I’ll make it to the bottom.”

“So long as you don’t fall.” Marvelous said darkly.

“Har, har.” Dirk said slowly as he continued to set the pace down beneath Zaun, heading ever closer to Viktor’s laboratory.

“Well, while we’re still doing this slow descent, do we need to be afraid of the Institute?” Sarah asked, wanting to make sure she knew what was coming. “Or are we going to be safe once we prove the quick-speaking Marvelous didn’t do all the things everyone says he did?” Dirk couldn’t see the frown form on Marvelous’ face, but Sarah did.

“As far as I know.” Dirk grunted as he reached the bottom of that stairwell and began the short horizontal walk to another ladder. “I wonder how much farther it is until we’re finally on the ground floor.”

“Hopefully not far enough that you won’t even be able to use magic here.” Sarah said as she lithely hopped off her rung and onto the floor several feet below her, easily and quickly following Marvelous.

“Actually,” Dirk said, shaking his head slowly at the predicament they were in. “The metal down here makes casting a bit harder due to the composition of the materials. Viktor’s immune since he was born and raised here, as well as a portion of what he does is pure hex-tech. What I can do is going to be much harder. Same goes for you two.”

“Not for me.” Sarah smirked as she felt the reassuring weight of her pistols on her hip. “I just shoot things. A lot.”

“And I’ll play with my sword,” Marvelous said. “Even though I’d prefer to type about this encounter from the safety of my typewriter, which is on some shelf or it has been resold to some grubby and sleazy reseller.”

“Sadly, a lot of things are gone now.” Dirk said remorsefully, looking at his ring with longing. “They’re not coming back either.”

“Like…Kalamandra.” Sarah said slowly, staring down at Dirk.

To his credit, Dirk didn’t balk or angrily shout out at the mention. He actually said nothing at all. However, the mention did cause a sharp pain to shoot through his shoulder and he lost his grasp on the rungs. With a mumbled grunt, Dirk fell the remaining feet onto the short platform, a fall of around seven feet.

“Dirk!” Marvelous rapidly descended the steps and jumped off, landing next to the man.

“Can you stop?” Dirk asked weakly as he let himself get pulled back to an upright position.

“What’s so bad about Kalamandra that you constantly refuse to talk about it?” Sarah asked, moving to help bring Dirk along the narrow walkway and into a safe sitting position.

“You each have your own secrets. You don’t see me talking about them.” Dirk muttered angrily before he stared up at both of them, eyes aflame with a unique combination of passion and sadness. “Kalamandra is off limits. I don’t care to remember it, much less talk about it and if you persist I will disappear as both of you were so fond of doing in the past.” Dirk shrugged off their hands and slid into the hole where the next series of rungs started, quickly and painfully trying to leave them and the past behind.

“Do you think he was there for it?” Sarah asked quietly, not making any move to join Dirk on the ladder just yet. She didn’t want to talk to Marvelous, but she wanted to know more about Dirk if she was going to continue trusting him.

“I’ll tell you later.” Marvelous replied just as softly, feeling the piece of paper still tucked away in his pocket. “It’s not pretty and I know you don’t care to talk to me right now.”

“Alright, I’ll lay off. If we piss him off any more about it, we may well not find your pardon or even what will happen to the 11th Summoning Stone.” Sarah sighed. “Men. You can’t get anything off their chest but you will stare at others.”

“It is a nice distraction.” Marvelous admitted as he slid onto the first rung and begun to follow Dirk down again.

“How much further?” Marvelous asked.

The trio had finally made it to the bottom of the entire ladder system after several back tracks and side passages. By their estimations, they were close to a third of a mile under Zaun, and it was a little bit colder than they had expected. For once, Sarah wished she had a thick parka or sweater to hide under. Almost as if he had read her thoughts, Marvelous offered her his coat, which when drawn around her, did help ward off the cold.

“Thanks,” she said.

“No trouble.” He replied.

Without warning, a voice boomed down the long hallway, the tone eerie and cold.

“Greetings trespassers. You have thirty seconds to state why you are advancing on my home before the PSN 14 launchers disperse an odorless and tasteless gas wherein you will wake up on the streets of Zaun, most likely in a puddle of filth which would spoil your lovely mismatched wardrobe.” The voice was most likely Viktor’s, albeit it with a completely modified tone as the crude electronics wired down in the tunnels couldn’t reproduce Viktor’s mechanical voice.

“Hello Champion Viktor. You have information that we may need and would like to talk to you about some potential recruits and a particular artifact you may have knowledge about.” Dirk didn’t know where to look, so he ended up looking back at Marvelous and Sarah. “I brought them here because I owe Marvelous a pardon and your information will help him get it.”

“Ten seconds. If you are a Summoner, as evidenced by that ring on your hand, you wouldn’t need my help to acquire a pardon.” The voice replied.

“I…am not officially one anymore.” Dirk replied sadly.

“Then you won’t mind the short sleep.” The voice replied before a series of sharp snaps issued along the tunnel and two doors snapped down, sealing them in a thirty foot section of the tunnel. Then a quiet hissing issued out of the walls and a pale blue gas began to drift into the air.

“I really hope you can hold your breath forever, or this isn’t going to be lethal.” Marvelous said, before he sucked in a large gulp of air and tried to hold it, futilely hoping it’d last long after the gas had dispersed.

“Even Summoners have to breathe.” Dirk said sarcastically as he sat down on the ground, not caring to fall over and injure himself further. The gas claimed him first, since he didn’t attempt to fight. Dirk slumped sideways, into a dreamless sleep for once that didn’t bring him nightmares.

Marvelous was next, since he had gulped in a large gasp of air he had to take a similar one to force air into his starved lungs. He slumped over onto the steel floor.

Sarah was last, and like Dirk, she knew the futility of fighting the gas. So she drew the cloak around her and stared back at the hallway, finding a very odd creature sitting in the tunnel as well. If anything, it looked like a little plant before she too passed out.

“Greetings humans. After two point four hours, the effects of the PSN 14 wears off, as my father likes to say. I prefer to round to two and a half hours.” The thick limbed robot spoke jovially as he set down a small tray laden with cups on a small table.

Dirk wiped his eyes wearily as he stared at the twenty-one cups, glasses, bottles and jars that were on the small tray.

“He took some convincing to make sure that we didn’t crate you back up to the surface, not until after we asked you some questions. Call me Quantum, by the way, and I made coffee, water, and the rest various alcohols which many people in Zaun are fond of drinking.”

“I think you made an excess of them.” Dirk rubbed his head sorely as he looked and saw Captain Marvelous and Sarah Fortune still awkwardly resting on a metal platform much like the one he was. “Should I wake my friends?” He reached for one of the cups, not caring for the contents, just wanting to feel something liquid in his dry mouth.

“Father made sure they’d be out for a few extra minutes, so he could have some time alone with you. Apparently your files were quite interesting and enlightening.” Quantum hinted.

Only then did Dirk realize that his backpack, with all his files, was missing from the room.

“Is there anything else I should know before I talk to your father?” Dirk asked as he took a sip of the liquid in his cup. He shook his head at the taste of the nearly pure alcohol. “They drink this? This’ll kill you.”

“Far as I can tell, most do not drink much more than a few ounces before they are sufficiently inebriated and do not care to drink anymore.” Quantum replied.

“I guess.” Dirk set the cup back down and followed the robot out and into the hallway. “So when were you born?”

“I was first activated around a year ago. It’s been exciting working with my father.” Quantum replied, eagerly opening the door to the laboratory.

“I’m sure it is.” Dirk replied as he walked into the laboratory. Inside he could smell a variety of chemicals, feel the heat of an active furnace, and the tingle on his skin signified hex cores were in use as well.

“Greetings former-Summoner.” Viktor turned to look at dirk, eyes quickly analyzing the man in a variety of ways: Combat effectiveness, magical efficiency, tenacity, stubbornness, active pheromones, making sure he could navigate the conversation wherever it was required with a minimum of risk. “Between the files you have and the admittance of your expulsion, you must have a great need to come to me of all people, especially considering the largest word on my champion dossier is ‘heretic.’”

“That’s an opinion, and not one I hold.” Dirk replied. “I made a promise. You should have information that will help Marvelous earn his pardon, which is what I promised for his earlier assistance in a troubling matter.”

“And what is this troubling matter?” Viktor leaned against his workbench, two arms folded over while his third pointed menacingly in Dirk’s direction.

“There’s no need to threaten father, he’s not going to do anything here.” Quantum tried to get his father to lower one of his weapons.

“He was a Summoner, and still possesses great power, even if critically injured. I am making sure you and I remain safe.” Viktor turned to look at Quantum. “Do not confuse safety with hostility.”

“Yes father.” Quantum replied.

“Smart move. You can see my injury?” Dirk asked.

“Even without your bloodstain, I can detect the elevated stress and fatigue you are plagued with. By my estimations you are operating at 63.4% efficiency. I had time to take tests while you were unconscious.” Viktor explained.

“Thanks, I think.” Dirk said self-consciously.

“Furthermore, I can stop your bleeding. However, you will owe me something.” Viktor explained.

“Which is what you wanted all along.” Dirk guessed.

“Correct. I will fix your wound, and you will detail exactly what the troubling matter to you is, as well as what you wanted me to help with. I will then decide whether this information is useful as well as whether to help or not.” Viktor replied. “Dealing with Summoners is always a dangerous proposition and I want to have every advantage on my side, especially with an ex-Summoner.”

“Quite smart. I agree to your terms.” Dirk looked around, not finding any medical equipment or devices on the tables. “How are you going to fix my shoulder?”

“Only after I have the information I want.” Viktor said, finally lowering his third arm.

“Alright.” Dirk sighed and leaned back against a workbench. “I need your help to clear Captain Marvelous’ name. According to the files on him, he matches up with a certain ‘C’ character and all the thefts are blamed on Marvelous. As far as I know, he said you might have proof that will prove he is not ‘C’ or ‘CM’ or whoever he isn’t.”

“Ah. Yes. Cecil.” Viktor blinked at the memory. “He goes by a different name now, as well as body. His was a very sad tale. There was much sacrificed by a group of friends for him. I didn’t realize how widespread the fallout was.”

“Who or what is Cecil?” Dirk asked. “He’s not in any of the files I had which you do.”

“Cecil was a thief. M and Janna were his friends. After a disease tore them apart, they reformed together on opposite sides of a conflict for a prototype hex-core. I had to cure Janna herself of the same disease and Cecil became more man than machine as I was successfully able to save his life and wipe his memory.” Viktor explained.

“Well, if you have any information that proves Marvelous isn’t M or Cecil, I need it. That’ll get him the pardon he needs and I’ll be able to properly pay him for his assistance with our previous mission. I need anything you can spare that will prove this.” Dirk asked.

“I…had been saving a copy of his final wipe.” Viktor moved over to a computer and rapidly input a series of commands, finally ending with his third arm pulling out a small cube. “Under Zaun law, Cecil with his new body and mind wouldn’t be held accountable for the crimes his previous personality did throughout the years. However, it would still damage the memory of him and Janna may not like that.”

“It’ll be used with discretion, I promise. The Institute will be more worried about me.” Dirk replied.

“And this troubling matter of yours as well.” Viktor said, putting the memory cube down on his workbench. “Which is?”

“They didn’t even know it existed until my report came in that I couldn’t keep it.” Dirk said loathingly. “As such, they blamed me for it and now I am without a home or a family I can rely upon. I owe Marvelous a pardon for helping me try to prevent the theft and the pardon is achievable with your memory cube there.”

“I see. Information on potential opponents inside of the League would have been sufficient for the information needed for Marvelous’ pardon, however this Summoning Stone going missing is troubling.” Viktor strode back and forth for a few moments, thinking. “The greatest odds of mutual success around protecting yourself and my interests require me joining you. In order to design a device to track the Summoning Stone, I will need a powerful portion of that prototype hex-core. Janna doesn’t care to see me, since she feels contrasting emotions due to me saving her life and reminding her of her lost friend.

“You must go to her and acquire a hex-core of five pounds refined weight, as well as requisitioning her airship for immediate travel. How you convince her, is up to you. If we are to prevent this 11th Stone from being activated before it’s too late, you must hurry.” Viktor explained.

“Do you know who that enemy of mine is?” Dirk asked as he slowly got back onto his feet.

“No.” Viktor turned to his furnace and adjusted the temperature on it. “None of the potential candidates match up or share qualities that would lead to a match. I will investigate further, but I do not see his name or personality here.”

“Alright. Is there anything else I can use to convince Janna to let us borrow those items?” Dirk asked.

“You could start with a sealed wound.” Viktor said as he dropped a gravity field on Dirk, preventing any movement. “This will hurt.”

“What will?” Dirk asked, unable to turn and look to see what Viktor was doing. “What are you doing?”

“Sealing the wound.” Viktor replied as he pulled the shirt away from Dirk’s shoulder, exposing the stitched wound, still wet with blood. Then he pressed the specialized hex-brand into Dirk’s back, sealing the wound with a large hiss.

Dirk screamed at the pain of the searing flesh before it was replaced with a soothing cool feeling as the hex-brand left his skin. Then he could see Viktor maneuver in front and press the hot metal into his shoulder, sealing the wound as well. Dirk couldn’t hold that scream in either as the second half of the wound sealed closed. Viktor let the shirt cover the area again, the charred skin hidden from view.

“You should be good to talk to Janna now, if you can hold it together.” Viktor replied. “To obtain 100% effectiveness will take three to four weeks. You will operate around 50% for the next few days, as the cure took more out of you now than the wound would have over time.”

“And you will heal faster and will be at a higher efficiency overall than if you hadn’t accepted treatment.” Viktor explained.

“Whatever you say.” Dirk stumbled towards the doorway. “Is there an easier way out of here besides the ladders?”

“My son will lead you to our elevator. Hopefully you are better at convincing her than I will be.” Viktor said.

“Perhaps. Thanks for helping us Viktor.” Dirk said appreciatively, turning back to look at him.

“I understand that Stone cannot be let onto the world, it will change the balance of power and may cause harm to myself and my kin. I cannot let that happen.” Viktor replied back, ever logical. “It is the only correct action.”

“Right.” Dirk turned to leave, walking out of the laboratory to follow Quantum. “I still appreciate it. Make sure to give Marvelous the memory core.”

“I will explain it to him when he and Sarah wake.” Viktor promised as Dirk followed Quantum out.